Roared at by the crowd for what appeared to be an attempt at
scene-stealing by showing a straight red to Emre, TV replays confirmed
that Turkish stupidity rather than Steel City bigotry was the root cause
of our numerical inferiority.

An earlier tackle by Stoke skipper John Eustace on Emre wasn't the best,
but the OTT response in front of the referee was brainless in the extreme.

Attendance: 35,108 -
9,000 more than for the Birmingham replay at the same stage a year ago.

Goals

8
mins A first goal in nine for Michael Owen, who poached one with
a close-range effort at the Leazes End, after Duff's left wing centre was
knocked back into the six yard box by Milner. 1-0

31 mins Defender Claudio Cacapa became the first Newcastle player
in living memory to score twice in a season from corners when he nodded home
N'Zogbia's corner from the Milburn side towards the nearest post. 2-0

Half time: Newcastle 2 Stoke City 0

68 mins Some
effective route one work, as James Milner profited from Viduka's
flick on to rattle in a fine low shot that brought an applauding Keegan to his
feet. 3-0

76 mins Milner and N'Zogbia raced over halfway on the
counter-attack. The Frenchman released a perfect pass for Damien Duff to
run onto and drive home a low shot. Nice to see him back in the groove after
his injury and appearing as the hapless toy boy in BT Total Broadband
ads..... 4-0

89 mins The
Stoke Sentinel memorably reported that:

"There was finally some welcome consolation shortly afterwards when
Lawrence, the scorer of a fine goal when playing at St James’ in the red
and white stripes of Sunderland, curled a 20-yard beauty across and over
Given into his left-hand corner.

"Stoke fans were encamped so far up in
the Gods – reportedly a quarter of a mile from the centre spot – that
many were probably receiving notification of the goal via an official club
SMS text message before registering it with their own eyes.

At least from
that distance they will not have seen or smelt the blood haemorrhaging
metaphorically from their outclassed players during a mercifully rare
beating." 4-1

Full time: Newcastle 4 Stoke City 1

We
Said

Caretaker boss Nigel Pearson said:

“It was impossible to be
immune from what was going on, as it was coming from every angle.

“What’s important for me is that the
players have put in a very good performance. These sort of eras are
difficult for players and staff alike, and a new era started today.

“All that’s important is that
we’re in the next round. Whatever the factors are outside of that, I’m
not really bothered. I don’t think you can question the players’
commitment.

“After Saturday, I suppose, more than
anything there was a question mark over the players, so for them to go out
and turn in a performance like that was good. I’m pleased for them.

“It would have been nice to keep a
clean sheet, but the most important thing for us was to get through the tie,
and we’ve done that with a bit of style, and I’m particularly pleased
for the players. Whatever happens now, we can move on.

“I thought the challenge on Emre was
awful, let’s be honest. It was a ridiculous challenge, and you only have
to look at Emre’s shin to see how bad a challenge it was. I’ve seen it a
few times on the slow-mo as well, and it’s not pretty.

“One thing led to another. The first
challenge should have been dealt with, and after that it’s another player
that we lose at a time when we’ve got a number of players unavailable.

“That makes it even more difficult for
us, but we’ll have to deal with it.”

Steven Taylor said:

"It's amazing. The fans are on a high and the Keegan days are back.

"We heard the news before the game and
we knew there would be a buzz around the stadium.

"We were in the dressing room when Nigel Pearson was giving his team talk and you could
hear the fans singing 'There's only one Kevin Keegan' outside.

"The whole place was rocking and we
put on a great show for the new gaffer.

"I think I can speak on behalf of
the players and say that everyone is delighted. It has given the club a lift
and the fans showed that - they were absolutely buzzing."

KK speaking to talkSPORT:

"I
know what they want and I know what they don't want as well. As long as they
are realistic and patient I think we can try again to help them have dreams
and possibly win something.

"I am just as excited this time as
I was when I came to play here at 31 and when I came as a manager at 43 or
44. I think this is right, I have certainly inherited a strong, talented
group of players - which is something I didn't have when I came last time.

"When I came last time we were
wondering whether we could fill the stadium. That is not a problem. They
will be trying to get a stadium big enough if we can put some football on
and get some success here.

"The job in hand is a big job, it is a great club."

They
Said

Tony Pulis commented:

"No excuses tonight, I thought we were beaten by a better team. I
don't think it helped that Kevin was announced before the game, it upped the
crowd by about 15,000.

"I was a little bit surprised because I thought they would go for Alan
Shearer. It's a special club. Irrespective of that, we were poor tonight, we
can't carry players.

"That's the way it runs. Unfortunately for us, everything you
wouldn't want to happen did happen.

"We've just got to take it on the
chin. For me, though, the biggest game of the week is against Preston on
Saturday."

Former Mackem and "consolation" scorer Liam Lawrence added:
"Maybe a kick up the backside was what we needed. It was a reminder
that we are far from good enough to play Premiership teams at the minute.

"It hurt - the fact they were down
to 10 men and we still couldn't live with them.

"We are battered and bruised, but
we have to pick ourselves up for Saturday."

Stats

Home debut for Kazenga LuaLua
after making his senior bow in the first meeting between these two
sides.

Cacapa became the second player from Brazil to score
in this competition for us, almost 19 years to the day that Mirandinha
netted here against Watford.

Damien Duff grabbed only his second goal for the
club and his first at SJP.

Absent
from the visiting lineup was former Magpie Andy Griffin, who
missed out on playing at SJP for Derby in December through injury.
This time round he was ineligible, having completed a move back
to Stoke after the first game of this Cup tie.
Get them back our place - Third Round home replays:

The Stoke fans may have aired their own favourite Tom Jones ditty "Delilah"
tonight, but a few choruses of "The Green Grass of Home" would
have been a more fitting soundtrack for a wholly unexpected comeback by a
familiar figure.

At 3pm this was a match that we'd intimated could be well worth losing, in
order to rescue us from the prospect of two Emirates torture sessions within
four days.

The draw for the Fourth Round seemed to have removed any thoughts of a run to
Wembley and in our attempt at rationality, we figured that it was better to
have a ten day break after Bolton before the Premiership test in North London.

For no other reason that would have given us time to regroup and any appointment a chance to work with his new charges.

By 4pm though, normal thinking was out of the window.

The news of the return of the man who was once "1000% finished with
football" had broken, sending Tyneside into a state of incredulous
disbelief.

Queues started to form at both the ticket office and the shirt name printer in
the club shop.

Keegan Mania had broken out once again - and this was a team and a city on the
up, negative memories banished, be they of the Northern Rock collapse, the 0-6
howking in our last game or the gloom-invoking sight of Allardyce, Redknapp,
Hughes et al (not Shearer).

Unfortunately however, local and national TV muppets failed to check their
facts before embarking on ever-more hyped statements, with both Sky and ITV
wrongly reporting that the game was a sellout (incredibly the latter were
sticking to their story 24 hours after).

That the game kicked off without the man of the moment on show hardly seemed
to matter, as the sheer excitement of the appointment had energised crowd and
players alike.

A goal from the visitors would have dampened some of the fervour, but the
Potters failed to get past Given for a second time when they found a route
towards his goal in the opening moments.

Dreamtime
duly arrived with Owen's opener, even though KK hadn't taken his place in
the Directors Box with messrs Mort & Ashley. He was in the building
though...

Playing seemingly with their shackles removed and taking advantage of the
wide-open spaces left by the Championship side, the dismissal of Emre seemed
hardly to matter as a second goal quickly arrived, Keegan applauding politely
at that one.

The Championship side did try to get back
into the game after the break, but after missing one half-chance Milner
went up the other end to seal the tie, Duff then adding to the celebrations.

A City consolation

couldn't dampen the euphoric atmosphere as Keegan & Co danced their way back into
the bowels of the Milburn stand to start planning a brand new era.

For the fans, smiles on faces were the order of the day as "Keegan
Wonderland" and a few other old favourites were dusted down and given
an airing. Funny, familiar, forgotten feelings.

Despite our squad limitations, everyone on the field contributed to a positive
and enjoyable performance that at least partially banished thoughts of
Saturday's horror show.

And although it's important to remember that this was against the most
mediocre of opposition, the difference in attitude and enthusiasm we
showed was markedly different from the first tie.

Carr, Duff and N'Zogbia looked like different players, Owen's body language
seemed more positive and we played without the fear that never seems to have
been far away. Percentages my arse.

Regardless of the ongoing press-led debate on whys and wherefores of Keegan's
arrival (and his departure a decade ago), the players and public responded instantly,
positively and honestly.

Quite simply, for lifting the gloom around the place (not to mention selling a
few thousand extra seats for tonight and Saturday) the appointment has already
been worthwhile.

Football may have moved on since Keegan last managed - let alone since he last
took charge of a Newcastle side - but the outpouring of emotion that
accompanied this appointment was an expression of relief that the Graham,
Glenn and Sam misadventures had moved us in a direction that was anything but
crowd-pleasing.

For too long, people have endured rather than enjoyed their football here, even if they were still
attending and supporting their
team. We may still never get to where we want to be, but at least now the journey
promises to be more enjoyable and adventurous than it looked ten days ago.